Koga has studied medicine and antidotes; he makes his own potions to heal his Pokémon. He also serves as a teacher. Many students come to him to be trained in the arts of Ninjutsu and Pokémon. One of his students is his own daughter, Janine, who takes over his Gym in the Generation II/IV storyline. In addition to these roles, Koga also patrols the grounds of the Kanto Safari Zone, to ensure that the players of the Safari Game are safe from the wild Pokémon within.

In Generation I/III, Koga's Gym is typically the fifth to be challenged. He has built invisible walls in the Fuchsia City Gym, constructing a confusing maze out of them. Koga awaits challengers in the center of the maze, clearly visible, but a group of Jugglers and Tamers—Koga's students—must be fought first. Defeating him will earn the successful Trainer TM06 (Toxic) and the Soul Badge.

With the future of the Gym in his daughter's hands, Koga advances to a role in the Pokémon League of Kanto and Johto before the events of Generation II/IV. In these games, he is the second member of the Elite Four to be faced. The team he uses in this role is similar to his Gym Leader's teams; the main difference is the introduction of Pokémon not native to Kanto. Koga's battle style as an Elite Four member is designed to confound and destroy his opponent in battle. Rather than using brute force, Koga attempts to confuse, put to sleep, and poison his opponent.

Fame Checker

This is a list of the Fame Checker's information on Koga in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions.

"Fwahahahaha! I am Koga of the Elite Four. I live in shadows, a ninja! My intricate style will confound and destroy you! Confusion, sleep, poison... Prepare to be the victim of my sinister technique! Fwahahahaha! Pokémon is not merely about brute force--you shall see soon enough!"

Being defeated

"Ah! You have proven your worth!"

After being defeated

"I subjected you to everything I could muster. But my efforts failed. I must hone my skills. Go on to the next room, and put your abilities to test!"

"Fwahahaha! A mere child like you dares to challenge me? The very idea makes me shiver with mirth! Very well, I shall show you true terror as a ninja master! Poison brings steady doom. Sleep renders foes helpless. Despair to the creeping horror of Poison-type Pokémon!"

Being defeated

"Humph! You have proven your worth! Here! Take the SoulBadge!"

After being defeated

"Now that you have the SoulBadge, the Defense of your Pokémon rises. It also lets you Surf outside of battle. Ah! Take this, too!"

"Sealed within that TM lies Toxic! It is a secret technique dating back some four hundred years."

"When afflicted by Toxic, a Pokémon suffers more and more. It suffers worsening damage as the battle wears on! It will surely terrorize foes!"

"Fwahahahaha! I am Koga of the Elite Four. I live in shadows--a ninja! My intricate style will confound and destroy you! Confusion, sleep, poison... Prepare to be the victim of my sinister techniques! Fwahahahaha! Pokémon are not merely about brute force--you shall see soon enough!"

After sending out last Pokémon

"One Pokémon left? Ha ha ha! I've been counting on this one from the very beginning!"

When last Pokémon is at critical health

"Ooooof..."

Being defeated

"Ah! You've proven your worth!"

After being defeated

"I subjected you to everything I could muster. But my efforts failed. I must hone my skills. Go on to the next room, and put your abilities to the test!"

In the anime

In the main series

Koga is a ninja who trains in an old mansion, the Fuchsia City Gym, in the woods outside Fuchsia City. The Gym is filled with traps such as fake mirrors, invisible walls, pits, and many Voltorb. Aya, Koga's younger sister, is one of his students.

Ash, Misty, and Brock managed to overcome the traps in the Gym and Ash was finally able to challenge Koga. Although Ash's Pidgeotto initially lost to Koga's newly-evolved Venomoth, prompting Ash to call out Charmander, their match was interrupted when Team Rocket tried to steal Koga's large supply of Voltorb, although they had raided the Gym with the intent of getting Poison-type Pokémon. Team Rocket was stopped by Psyduck, allowing Ash and Koga to have a rematch. Pitting Charmander against Koga's Golbat, Ash triumphed and won the Soul Badge.

He reappeared in a flashback in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion! when Ash was thinking back to the time where he battled Koga with Charmander and Koga ordering Golbat to use Screech on Charmander.

Pokémon

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On hand

When Ash challenged Koga, Koga sent out his Venonat, which Ash originally underestimated since he had previously defeated his sister's Venonat quite easily but then it instantly evolved into a Venomoth, and proceeded to get the upper hand in its Gym battle with Pidgeotto. The battle was interrupted by Team Rocket, and afterwards, Koga offered to trade Venomoth to Misty for her Psyduck, but she declined.

At Fuchsia Gym

Voltorb (multiple)

Koga keeps these multiple Voltorb as traps in his Gym. They can be either hidden under the floor or be dropped from the ceiling. Ash, Misty, and Brock first came across one when Ash fell into a trap, stepped on one and it shocked him. Team Rocket attempted to steal the Voltorb from the Gym, and Meowth used these Pokémon as exploding bowling balls and threw them at the heroes.

In the Magical Pokémon Journey manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Koga in Pokémon Adventures

Koga was one of the three villainous heads of Team Rocket, and served under Giovanni.

Koga debuts in the Red, Green & Blue chapter in Raging Rhydon searching the Moon Stone in Mt. Moon, here Koga fights with Red and Misty and forces his Rhyhorn to evolve with a mysterious injection, revealing what happened to Misty's Gyarados when it was kidnapped, however the mission fails. Koga later tries to bump off Red in Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower, where he uses a Gastly to reanimate the corpses of dead Pokémon buried there. He also attacks Red with his Arbok. However, Blue has his Charmeleon slice Arbok in half. Under his boss's orders, he captures Articuno and brings it to Saffron City. He is once again defeated by Blue at Silph Co., albeit that he almost killed both of them by not allowing them to reach their Poké Balls by using his Muk, then almost freezing them to death with his Articuno. After he is defeated and knocked out Red gets Koga's Soul Badge and Blue uses his special Golbat to find out where Team Rocket is holding his grandfather.

Later, Koga helps the Pallet Town Trainers in the fight against the Elite Four at Cerise Island. Koga is paired with Blue and battles Agatha, but Blue first returns his Golbat to him. When the two of them finally meet Agatha, she separates them, making Blue and Koga's Golbat that he got paired up with again face Agatha's Golbat. Meanwhile, Koga's Arbok had to face Agatha's Arbok which could change its patterns allowing it to gain the upper hand over Koga. When Blue was paralyzed from a Haunter's Lick, Koga started throwing his shuriken balls. Agatha thought this was a desperate tactic, but in reality they were Pokémon holding Parlyz Heals. Koga was hoping just one of them would get to Blue, which it did. Blue then joins him, and Koga commands his Golbat to use Leech Life on himself. His blood is then put on Arbok's torso to prevent its ability to change its pattern. Without Arbok's ability, Agatha was defeated.

Or so it seemed. In reality, Agatha just pretended to be defeated and had her Gengar masquerade as Koga and Blue's shadow to slowly suck the life out of them hidden due to Koga's quick loss of blood. After traveling through the maze for a while, they found themselves back where they started with Agatha nowhere to be found. They then figured out her plan and defeated the Gengar, but not before Koga is nearly swept in the collapsing terrain of the destroyed battleground. He narrowly escapes using his Muk to defend him in his wounded state.

Unlike the other two Rocket Admins, who were instructed to return and manage their Gyms, Koga was not even reached by Giovanni. He then disappears for a time, leaving his daughter Janine in charge of the Gym. Janine is worried for her father, but opposes his criminal ties. Later in the Gold, Silver & Crystal chapter, Koga reappeared with a new partner, Bruno, who had saved Koga when Cerise was about to collapse. They trained together for a while and both of them later met their former opponents Red and Blue, whose Rhydon was drilling underground towards Ilex Forest. Towards the end of the series, Koga and Bruno found Will and Karen in the Ilex Forest and persuaded them to work together. The new Elite Four was formed, but were not seen in action until the HeartGold & SoulSilver chapter.

Two of Koga's Pokémon have unusual powers: his Arbok can regenerate itself as long as its head remains intact (see above); and his unusually small Golbat's mouth can be used almost like a magic mirror for scrying to see things from a distance, even if walls or land are in the way. Blue takes this Golbat and keeps it for quite some time before returning it to Koga at Cerise Island.

Koga also uses custom-made Poké Balls which can be thrown as shuriken—perhaps an inspiration for Falkner’s later boomerang Poké Balls.

Pokémon

This is a listing of Koga's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Rhyhorn → Rhydon

Koga's Rhydon was introduced as a Rhyhorn, where it fought against Red and Pika. When it was losing, Koga injected in with a mysterious needle, forcing it to evolve. In its evolved form, it was too much for both Red and Misty to handle, and they had to escape the battle by distracting Rhydon with an electrically charged boulder. It hasn't been seen again.

Arbok is one of Koga's most powerful Pokémon. It can regenerate itself even if it's cut in half, so as long as its head remains intact. It was used against both Blue and Agatha. It also possesses the ability to temporarily control a detached body part, such as its tail.

Koga's Golbat is much smaller than the average Golbat. His Supersonic can be used to create a magic mirror for scrying to see things from a distance, even if walls or land are in the way. After Blue defeated Koga at Silph Co., he stole Golbat to locate Professor Oak but later returned him to his rightful owner on Cerise Island.

Koga wears a Grimer on his shoulder in the form of a ninja outfit in Pokémon Adventures. He used him extensively to smother Blue, preventing him from breathing and restricting his movements so that he would be unable to call on his Pokémon.

Koga's Muk was used on Cerise Island to battle the Elite Four, and proved useful in his survival after the island began to crumble. In the HeartGold & SoulSilver chapter, he was used during the Circle Push event of the Pokéathlon.

Released

This Articuno was originally seen at the Seafoam Islands. Even though Red stopped one attempt, Team Rocket was finally able to catch this legendary bird because of its energy loss, and had it sent over for Koga afterwards. During the battle between Red, Blue, Green and Lt. Surge, Koga and Sabrina, it was merged with Zapdos and Moltres to create Thu-Fi-Zer after Sabrina took matters into her own hands. Once defeated and freed, it returned to the wild, where it was later caught by Green alongside its fellow Legendary birds.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

He hires a Chansey torturer to kidnap the Chansey as they were valuable to him, something he only cared about. Red sneaks in with Clefairy and Pikachu to take the Chansey. After getting caught though, Koga releases Koffing and Grimer to stall Red and his Pokémon. However, Clefairy defeats them both, one by one, and rescues the Chansey.

In Aim to be the No. 1 Pokémon!!, he was revealed to have registered for the No. 1 Pokémon Contest. His did not have his greed this time and it wore off since then. Koga participates with Ninetales but loses since Ninetales did not dazzle the audience.

After Red's travels in Johto, Koga is revealed to have joined the Johto Elite Four in A Challenge to the Elite Four!. He, along with Will and Bruno fell from the Elite Four Tower, seemly defeated by Karen. Red asks them what happened, but Koga asks him to ask Karen herself. It is later revealed that after being exhausted from training, Karen decided to tell them a joke, and they fell down the building after hearing her dumb joke.

Artwork

Cards

Koga's PokémonCards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format.Cards listed with a silver background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.